KonradGM

Simple, it was 2008 early new generation, and gta games are developed over span of minimum 4-5 years now (well gta VI more obviously ) if you look at any gta game from III to V you can see how pederestian models are always lesser quality than the main characters, and the playable ones are always the highiest quality. so most models were developed with less polygons and as years passed most important characters were improved. Same with Gta V , franklin trevor and michael are extremely high quality but some npcs are of lesser quality, the npc in V are highier quality modelwise than IV but that is just technological improvement within generation, expect VI to look better than V

Am Shaegar

^^^ That doesn't seem like an in-game screenshot, but a pre-rendered still used by the developers during the marketing.

Ugly isn't the right term that I'd use to describe. Almost all the characters appear to me like mannequins in terms of looks and their movements. Sometimes their faces (not in cutscenes, but in game) have weird effects on them. The character models don't look too bad, but indeed lack in quality, in terms of many details seen in other open world games that look incredibly better in comparison.